Journey in health one step at a time

Menu

clients

Sorry I’ve been absent for a while. I’m focusing on getting more clients before the end of the month. As some of you know my full-time job is coming to an end February 28th. So far I’ve gained 11 more clients I have 9 more spots open and would like to fill those before the end of the month.

This brings me to one of my topics for today. Spending time working in a field that is clearly bringing you more stress than it’s worth. Yes, I know we all need to pay bills and support our families but when our jobs are costing us our health and wellbeing and we’re not able to enjoy our families then we need to be searching for positions that bring us joy, fulfillment, and stimulate our minds.

My husband started a new job a couple of weeks ago and his words here “I no longer feel the need to munch all day because I’m not bored.” He figured out that when he’s bored he munches on unhealthy carb snacks. Now he only eats one meal a day without the need for snacking. His health is so much better and he’s able to spend more time with me instead of just sleeping. He’s also got more energy to work out.

Have you ever had that exhilarating feeling of being challenged by your job, loving every minute of it, and being so calmed by it as well? Those are facets of knowing that you were meant for this job or career. Think back to a time when you were in a job you clearly knew was not for you. Now think about your health and wellness during that time. Did you have the energy to workout, to play with your kids, to enjoy a weekend without dreading Monday? Probably not.

We spend over half our lives working and if we’re not working in an industry or at a job that is meaningful to us we’re wasting our lives on something that we have all the power to change. So where do we go from here?

I’ll use myself as an example.

I got my college degree late in life (49 years old). It was still one of the best things I did. I proved that I could succeed, and it opened my life up to endless possibilities of what I can accomplish. When I started college, I didn’t know that I wanted a double Bachelor of Science degree in Health & Wellness and Nutrition. My friends told me I was crazy for taking classes like Anatomy Physiology and Chemistry altogether. But I loved it. It’s motivating to hear your instructor tell you that only a handful of students ace his class. I was one of that handful. That moment alone changed my esteem, my confidence, and my outlook on life.

After college I became a certified holistic life coach and an alternative health therapy researcher, helping people through tough areas in their lives by looking at their whole life and decisions made along the way. I started a blog, writing about the challenges we all face in life: weight loss, wellness, health, mindfulness, and joy. I became a tutor for students with learning challenges. I loved being a tutor and still, love it today. But I wanted to contribute more to our family (my husband and I ), so I took a job as an inside sales rep for an educational technology organization. I saw it as a dream job because the pay was great, but I knew at the 4-month mark that the job wasn’t for me. I stuck it out and here I am four years later regretting that I did.

You see my whole goal in life has always been to stand in the gap. It’s something my father taught me as a young child. Standing in the gap means different things to different people. To me, it meant that I learned how to help people who not only asked for help but those people who society tosses aside as inconsequential to the whole makeup of society. My job has always been about making the yearly sales quota, but never about meeting people where they are and helping them grow beyond the benchmark had they set for themselves.

Because I stayed in a job that was clearly not for me, the stress of it all gave me a serious autoimmune disease. I gained 50 pounds because I was stress eating and depressed all the time. I used to think how much happier I was when I worked for myself even though I wasn’t making as much money. I couldn’t sleep, I had no time to do the things I always loved. But hey, I was making money. I was stressed and sick. I dreaded all five days of the week I had to work. But my weekends were spent being sick. Yes, I had the capability of working from home. That was a perk. But you know what? If sales aren’t your thing, then don’t do it. I set myself up for failure because I saw $$$ instead of working from my whole life goals.

How does this translate to you and your life? Are you in a position that is clearly not for you? Do you see no way out? These are questions only you can answer.

The first place you should take a look at in changing your life is to find out what your whole life goal is and work off that. If helping people is something that moves you, try volunteering at hospitals, schools, food banks, or in your place of worship. (My love of tutoring came from when I volunteered at my sons’ school almost 23 years ago.)

If helping animals brings you joy, volunteer at a pet shelter or start a dog walking business.

Start out small. I started my tutoring business while I was in college, I worked and continue to work with one of the many tutoring platforms online. I started with one student, now I have 9 students on a regular basis and even during the summer months because I offer enrichment classes (art, math, cooking, reading/writing) that school districts don’t have the money to offer anymore.

Let’s bring this all together. What does all this have to do with the 50 Day Cleanse and Glimpses of My Life?

Here’s the second topic for today. A 50 day cleanse can’t change the amount of stress we deal with but it can help you in dealing with that stress. And sometimes this cleanse will add some stress to your life. Especially if you’re making two different menus, one for you and one for your family. Which is why I am changing several points about this cleanse even the name to help fit our busy lives and make it easier to follow through with. (I must confess, I got to the 21-day mark and I just could not take it anymore, it’s too restrictive for my lifestyle.)

This new and improved cleanse has nothing to do with a certain number of days. It’s about having choices. We see these cleanses and challenges with a number in them as “I only have to make it X amount of days then I can go back to how I was before.” Cleansing Choices, on the other hand, gives you the opportunity to set your own number of days, make the choices you want to add to your lifestyle and puts the power to change your life back in your hands. If you don’t want to be vegan, you don’t have to. If you’d rather not be raw, you can skip it. If you only want to water fast for one to three days, that’s fine. There are no set guidelines for Cleansing Choices. I’ve made the plan easier to follow by giving you cleansing options. Because life is all about the choices we make not about following someone else’s choices. You’ll have the opportunity to pick from a list of cleansing options that fit your lifestyle. Whether you want to pick one or multiple, it’s your choice because it’s your life and you know what you can handle.

Let’s turn the page and make Cleansing Choices that resonate with each and every one of us.

It’s our choices…that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.